Snow creates afternoon gridlock

The season's first snowstorm prompted officials to cancel school in Worcester today. About a dozen other districts, including Oxford and Webster, opened two hours later than usual. In Oxford, Interstate 395 was backed up this morning after a crash that involved a fuel spill.

The season's first snowstorm prompted officials to cancel school in Worcester today. About a dozen other districts, including Oxford and Webster, opened two hours later than usual.

Roads in the region remain slippery after being hit with a mix of rain and snow into the night.

This morning, an accident in the right lane just north of Exit 5 on northbound Interstate 395 in Oxford caused significant delays. Traffic was down to one lane for several hours. The fuel tank of a truck involved in the accident ruptured, prompted an extended cleanup of the area, involving hazardous materials crews.

Forecasters in the Taunton office of the National Weather Service said the snow, except for a flurry or two, is over and the rest of the day should be cloudy and windy with temperatures in the upper 30s. A warming trend is forecast to start tomorrow and the high temperature is expected to soar past 6o degrees early next week

Northern Worcester County got less snow than Southern Worcester County as the heavy snowbands set up over the Southbridge-Sturbridge area into Northern Connecticut.

The fast-moving snowstorm left just enough snow to wreak havoc on local roadways and create gridlock and numerous spinouts and minor accidents during the late-afternoon commute yesterday.

According to Worcester police, from 3 p.m. yesterday to 11:30 this morning there were 93 reported accidents in the city, 21 of which involved injuries. There were 13 hit-and-run accidents. Police said there were no serious injuries.

The most spectacular of the dozens of accidents that occurred after 3:30 p.m. was a St. Peter-Marian bus that ended up in a backyard at Pleasant and Moreland streets.

David Kieko said he was watching television with his children when he heard a loud noise. He looked outside and saw a tree falling, then saw a full-size yellow school bus behind it.

Fearing another tree would fall into the house at 993 Pleasant St., Mr. Kieko said he sent his children into the basement.

He said he watched as firefighters and paramedics helped the female driver out of the bus.

The driver was taken a city hospital for observation, according to a School Department official.

There were no children on the bus.

The corner of the steep hill and busy street is a magnet for bad-weather fender-benders, but this was a first for Mr. Kieko.

“Nothing like this,” he said.

According to police scanner reports, most of the accidents throughout the rush hour appeared to be minor. Multiple-car pileups occurred at many intersections, including Belmont Street and Walnut Street. State police lowered the speed limit west of the Westboro tolls to 40 mph on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

A Mercedes Benz sedan was facing the wrong way on an icy slope on Webster Street, and an off-duty city police officer parked his truck and tried to persuade people to turn around.

Traffic snarled at nearly every intersection in the city; cars randomly spun out. Route 9 in Leicester was at a standstill late in the afternoon.

Robert L. Moylan, the city's director of public works and parks, said crews started to pre-treat the roads just after 3 p.m., and said salt trucks were out by 3:30 to 3:45 p.m. He said a number of accidents on Interstate 290 around that time spilled traffic onto local roads. And he said that clogged up Belmont Street, which he described as one of the city's most important roads in terms of avoiding gridlock.

The backups spread into the downtown area, and probably made possible some of the many accidents that happened during that time. Mr. Moylan said travel on main arteries, “for the most part, was negotiable.”

He said crews would be working all night treating roads, and he urged motorists to continue to use caution.

“I think it was a confluence of a few things,” Mr. Moylan said. “The conditions were just right for the precipitation that fell to instantly freeze, and that instantaneously created icy conditions throughout the city, which created, a) traffic, and b) all those accidents because of the road conditions.”

The city was expected to get a couple of inches of snow yesterday and another couple of inches from midnight to 6 this morning.

Linda Bock of the Telegram & Gazette staff contributed to this report.

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